The tea is hot today, folks.
Milwaukee Bucks guard Patrick Beverley defended his new head coach Doc Rivers on Twitter after JJ Redick blasted the coach, saying he never takes accountability.
Redick knows Rivers well, spending four years under his tutelage as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers. Despite, or perhaps because of, that familiarity, Redick blasted Rivers while appearing on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday.
“I’ve seen the trend for years. The trend is always making excuses,” Redick exclaimed.
“Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard. It’s hard. We get it. Just like getting traded in the middle of the season is hard for a player, we get it. But it’s always an excuse. It’s always throwing your team under the bus. They lose to Memphis. Oh it’s his players’ fault … Memphis was playing G-League guys and two-way guys!” Redick continued.
JJ Redick calls out his former head coach Doc Rivers, who he will be replacing on ESPN/ABC’s NBA Finals coverage.
“I’ve seen the trend for years. The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard… it’s always an excuse.… pic.twitter.com/NeTGnP1Suw
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 20, 2024
“Then you look at his quotes over the weekend, now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade to the Clippers working out? He wants credit for that? There’s NEVER accountability with that guy.”
Rivers, who came under fire after seeming to blame his players for their most recent loss to the depleted Memphis Grizzlies, is one of the most polarizing coaches in the NBA.
Though he has a long and storied history as the head coach of numerous big name franchises, he’s now almost 16 years removed from his only championship with the Boston Celtics.
Rivers has flamed out of his last two jobs, first with the Clippers and more recently with the Philadelphia 76ers, so when the Bucks chose to fire their head coach in the middle of the season and bring Rivers in instead, many questioned the move.
I myself said it “might be the worst hire in NBA history.”
But Rivers is not without his defenders, and Bucks guard Patrick Beverley took to Twitter to defend his skipper. (RELATED: ‘Bunch Of Homeless Crooks’: NBA Hall Of Famer Charles Barkley Shreds Rapidly Declining Democrat-Run City)
“This Man Doc actually saved your career. Started you when no one else wanted 2. And u retire go on TV and say that,” Beverley tweeted at Redick on Tuesday afternoon.
This Man Doc actually saved your career. Started you when no one else wanted 2. And u retire go on TV and say that. @jj_redick
— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) February 20, 2024
Redick quickly responded, tweeting back, “Pat my guy I had a four year offer with player option for the same money to be a starter for a different team. FOH ‘saved my career.'”
Pat my guy I had a four year offer with player option for the same money to be a starter for a different team. FOH “saved my career”. https://t.co/5lXowm2j8e
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) February 20, 2024
Redick’s impassioned speech sounded like it was born out of personal frustration with his former coach, and I totally get it. As a Clippers fan, I remember our good regular seasons and miserable postseason collapses.
Beverley himself should be well familiar with that feeling. He was a member of the 2019-2020 team that collapsed and lost a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semi Finals.
That effort ultimately lost Rivers his Clippers job.